[394] Statutes, 13th Richard II., I, cap. 3.
[395] In Rochester “the King’s hackney-men” took oath to be ready at all times, early and late, to serve the King’s Grace with able hackney horses at the calling of the Mayor, and to provide at all times for any man riding on the King’s message, and to give information to the Mayor in case any hard-driven hackney-man in the town “purloin or hide any of their able hackney horses in any privy places, whereby the King’s service may be hindered, prolonged, or undone.” (Hist. MSS. Com. ix. 287.) For Romney see Lyon’s Dover, ii. 341. In some towns certain innkeepers had letters patent to require horses and carts for the King’s service. The right was greatly abused, and such patents declared void by Statute. (28 Henry VI. cap. 2.)
[396] For purveyors, Rogers’ Agric. and Prices, 1., 119, 166. Brinklow’s Complaint, 19, 20. Rot. Parl. i. 400. At Lynn the King’s Larderer would claim ships to go out fishing for the King’s provisions, or perhaps to carry 5,000 fish for the King’s household. (Hist. MSS. Com. xi. 3, 188-9.) As late as 1493 it was necessary for Canterbury (which had been freed by charter from these exactions in 1414) to get a “breve” from Henry the Seventh to give its inhabitants a summary means of resisting the demands of the King’s Purveyors. (Ibid. ix. 168.) For seizing of carts, see Nottingham Records, i. 118. The King’s cart-takers in the seventeenth century, Hist. MSS. Com. v. 407.
[397] Instances in Chester, 1282, Hemingway’s Chester, i. 132.
[398] Among the Bristol liberties was one that no burgess nor inhabitant of Bristol shall against his will receive none host into his house by lyverance of the King’s Marshall. (Ricart, 24.)
[399] Instances of the necessity for new grants and confirmations and the heavy consequent expenses are too numerous to quote. In Canterbury £36 was paid in 1460 for a new charter, and other payments connected with the same business were made in the following year. In 1472 messengers were sent to London for the obtaining again of a charter of liberties. Two years later an envoy rode to London to treat with the Treasurer, Lord Essex, about a writ of proviso touching the liberties of the city, and a grant was then made, probably in return for heavy payment, which confirmed a recent restoration of ancient privileges. A magnificent supper given to Lord Essex expressed the gratitude of the city. In 1474 the city paid for a proviso to confirm the restorations of their liberties. In 1475 there was an investigation in camera of the charters and muniments concerning the bounds of the liberty; and in 1481 payments were made to friends and patrons who had helped them with the King in preserving the liberties of the city. At the accession of Henry the Seventh it became necessary to buy renewal and confirmation of the charter, and this was completed in 1487. In 1490 the Mayor conferred with Cardinal Morton on the renewal and extension of the liberties of the city. (Hist. MSS. Com. ix. 140 et seq., 170.) See Romney, Ibid. v. 534-5, 537, 539, 543-4.
[400] Writ of inquisition as to privileges of Cinque Ports. (Hist. MSS. Com. vi. 544.) The instance of charters forfeited on these grounds are very frequent.
[401] In Southampton a hogshead of Gascony wine was given “by common consent” to the sheriff to have his friendship in the return of a jury. In 1428 a sum of 13s. 4d. was paid for returning “friends of the town” on a jury to settle a question which had arisen between the King and Southampton as to which was to have the goods and chattels of a felon who had run away. (Hist. MSS. Com. xi. 3, 140, 142.) See also Ibid. v. 518.
[402] Hist. MSS. Com. v. 539. The Lieutenant of Dover, who settled the amount and division of benevolences required from the Cinque Ports, had also his offerings from the various towns that they might be well dealt with. (Ibid. v. 527.)
[403] Ibid. v. 528. These courts on the sea-shore meant considerable expense in fees and feasts.